National Signing Day 2018: Live Coverage and Updates on Recruiting's Marquee Day

Quickly

From the first fax of the day to the final class rankings adjustment, we're tracking every big story and undecided top prospect as the first Wednesday of February finally arrives, allowing recruits to put pen to paper.

Decision Day is here. After the majority of the class of 2018’s top prospects sealed their college choices in late December during college football’s new early signing period, top teams were left to vie for the services of the final few blue-chip talents available across the country in rounding out their recruiting classes. Now as the traditional National Signing Day arrives, those holdout high school stars will write the first chapter of their college careers.

Which schools will land signing day’s biggest fish? Is Ohio State's place atop the class rankings safe? And are there any big surprises in store? We’re tracking all the high-profile commitments, news and rumors of Wednesday’s action below. Unless otherwise specified, all star counts and position rankings are via the 247Sports Composite.

4:30 p.m. ET: A late win for Nick Saban

• Alabama may have lost its top in-state receiver to Clemson, but the Tide dipped into the Lone Star State for another four-star. Episcopal (Texas) WR Jaylen Waddle has picked Alabama over Oregon, Texas A&M, TCU and Florida State.

• Texas A&M has moved to the fringe of the top 15 without any help today from a former quarterback you may have heard of.

Due to always controversial NCAA rules I will no longer be able to @ any recruits. My apologies...

4 p.m. ET: Baker Mayfield is still 100% Sooner

• When key Texas signing day prize Keondre Coburn promised that the Longhorns would beat Oklahoma after confirming his commitment, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner weighed in. Baker Mayfield wrote this in a now-deleted tweet to Coburn:

“This is what we call being naive. Kid has no idea what it's like stepping into the Cotton Bowl. So here's how it works... The team north of the Red River doesn't flinch. But it's okay, you'll see for yourself, wish you the best.”

Here’s what Coburn, the No. 13 player in the state of Texas, said to irk Mayfield:

I’m so happy to finally be a longhorn baby this has been the hardest process ever but it’s over and my next journey is in Austin and with my boys in this Revolution Class AND I PROMISE WE WILL BEAT OU and the rest of them🤘🏾🐂 pic.twitter.com/5Il1vSAmpB

Wait a second. #FSU’s 2018 recruiting class has a Dennis (Briggs), a Mac (Camren McDonald), a Dee (D’Marcus Adams), and a Chaz (Neal), which is often short for Charlie. We’ve seen this show before, gang. pic.twitter.com/v2vqAGgzD2

• Despite landing the No. 1 uncommitted prospect in the country, Alabama is down to No. 9 in the national class rankings. This will be the first time the Tide finish outside the top three since 2007, but in fairness, Nick Saban brings plenty of young talent back, including Tua Tagovailoa and the other true freshmen who starred in the national championship game.

2:30 p.m. ET: Here's your weirdest commitment of the day

• Escambia (Fla.) High School WR Jacob Copeland, the top-ranked receiver in the Sunshine State, picked Florida over Alabama and Tennessee in a fascinating signing day scene, surrounded by family members and supporters wearing Volunteers and Crimson Tide gear. But his mom walked off the set as soon as the announcement was made.

Jacob Copeland's mother — in an Alabama sweater and Tennessee hat — just got up and left after he announced he was going to Florida pic.twitter.com/tOZHnZeamv

WR Jacob Copeland, ESPN's No. 40 ranked player, picks #UF over #Alabama and #Tennessee. His mom, wearing an Alabama sweater, gets up and walks away off camera as soon as he puts on the UF hat. Live TV. Wow.

• Cedar Hill (Texas) RB Maurice Washington signs on with Nebraska and new head coach Scott Frost on ESPN2. “Maybe I could be the face of the program, and we go take this and go get a natty.”

2 p.m.: Devon Williams picks USC

• The Trojans are heating up, landing one of the top downfield threats in the class of 2018 in Antelope Valley (Calif.) WR Devon Williams. They have roared past Washington as the Pac-12’s top-ranked class.

• Ole Miss adds a former USC DT via the junior college route.

Former #USC DT Noah Jefferson, a massive dude at 6-6, 330, has resurfaced at #OleMiss in the Rebels signing class after going to JC at Arizona Western.

• Alabama seems to be sliding back after threatening the top three earlier this morning. The Crimson Tide are down to No. 8 in the 247Sports Composite rankings.

1:30 p.m.: USC lands the five-star son of a rap star

• Yes, Olaijah Griffin is the son of West Coast rapper Warren G. But the Mission Viejo (Calif.) cornerback is making a name for himself in his own right. Griffin, today’s final five-star available according to the 247Sports Composite rankings, committed to USC with a balloon popped by his father, revealing gold confetti.

1 p.m. ET: Welcome to the top 10, FSU

• Clemson adds a potential big-time receiver in Phenix City, Ala., product Justyn Ross, a 6'4", 201-pound target who was the top prospect in the state of Alabama this year (No. 45 overall). Ross also had Alabama and Auburn hats on the table. The Tigers don’t have the sheer numbers to compete for the nation’s top recruiting class, but this is an insane fact:

Clemson has signed the top-ranked player from five different states: Georgia, Florida, Ohio, South Carolina and Alabama https://t.co/nCzLce5vNW

• Alabama’s top receiver is leaving the state, but Louisiana’s top receiver is staying home.

#LSU gets 5-star WR Ja’Marr Chase.. Fills a big need. The Tigers No. 1 priority dating back to last Feb was to dominate the state, and with Chase, they landed 9 of the top 10 players.https://t.co/077xVQczpx

Noon ET: Georgia is (still) not messing around

• Kirby Smart will never stop going in. The Bulldogs have flipped Alabama commit Quay Walker, a four-star out of Crisp County (Ga.) High School ranked No. 2 among the nation’s outside linebacker prospects and No. 31 overall.

BREAKING: Rivals100 linebacker Quay Walker has flipped his commitment from Alabama to #UGA. He is the No. 38 ranked player in the nation.

• A few minutes after Walker picks the Dawgs, Tommy Bush, a four-star wide receiver from Schertz, Texas, donned the red and black as well (as did his niece, who had her jacket unzipped to reveal the Georgia gear that signaled his decision). With leading receiver Javon Wims headed to the NFL draft, UGA can’t have too many weapons around Jake Fromm—or Justin Fields, or whoever’s running the offense in Athens.

11:30 a.m. ET: Quarterbacks make their calls

• Lanier (Ala.) four-star QB James Foster just picked Texas A&M over Alabama, LSU and Florida State, giving Jimbo Fisher another recruiting win over his new SEC West foes (and his former employer,

11:15 a.m. ET: Georgia back at No. 1 ... for now

• Thanks in part to the signing of No. 12 overall prospect Tyson Campbell, the Bulldogs are back on top of the 247Sports Composite leaderboard, with a whopping seven five stars in the fold this recruiting cycle. Other big movers in Wednesday’s early going include some of the usual suspects: Alabama has climbed all the way up to No. 4, while Florida State is lurking outside the top 10 at No. 12. There should be plenty more movement ahead.

• Virginia Tech had a pretty good idea it was losing star linebacker Tremaine Edmunds to the NFL, but reinforcements are on the way for Bud Foster’s perennially punishing unit. Shelby (N.C.) linebacker Dax Hollifield, No. 7 at his position in the nation and No. 151 overall according to 247, picked the Hokies over Stanford, North Carolina and Clemson on Wednesday morning. Virginia Tech currently holds the ACC’s fourth highest-ranked class.

10:30 a.m. ET: Ohio State gets the top OL available

• Five-star Nick Petit-Frere has signed with the Buckeyes after a recruitment shrouded in mystery that was also headlined by Alabama, Florida, Michigan and Notre Dame. That means that all three schools with an inside track on the No. 1 class (Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State) have landed five-stars this hour.

10 a.m. ET: The American Heritage Four make their calls

• First up from the Florida state champions in Plantation, which have gone 27–0 the past two years with help from the nation’s top two DBs: DE Andrew Chatfield picks the Gators (with the hat fake to jab Miami fans in the heart). Then five-star CB Tyson Campbell picks Georgia. Then top prospect Patrick Surtain Jr. pulls off a relative stunner, picking Alabama after many projections pegged him for LSU in the lead-up to Signing Day.

• High praise for five-star Xavier Thomas, who signed with Clemson in December:

Spoke to a half-dozen college coaches in the past 24 hrs. Asked who they thought was the best player they saw in 2018 recruiting class. One player got mulitiple votes: DL Xavier Thomas going to #Clemson. "That guy is phenomenal. If there's such thing as a 'can't miss' it's him."

• Four-star edge defender Caleb Tannor turned some heads by selecting Nebraska over Florida and Auburn earlier this morning. The Miller Grove (Ga.) High School product told Rivals that Scott Frost’s Huskers staff wants to use him the way they used Shaquem Griffin at UCF.

9:30 a.m. ET: Here come the big fish

• Three five-star recruits are set to announce in a flurry in the 10 a.m. hour, once ESPN begins its day-long coverage: Patrick Surtain Jr., Tyson Campbell and Nicholas Petit-Frere. Surtain and Campbell are two of four teammates at American Heritage High School set to announce at the top of the show. Surtain, the top uncommitted prospect, was “torn” as recently as last night, according to ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren.

The latest update from American Heritage, with four-star DT Nesta Silvera (set to choose between Miami and Florida) making things interesting:

9 a.m. ET: SEC West intrigue!

• Jimbo Fisher is making use of today to polish up his first Texas A&M class, and things are off to a rollicking start in College Station, as four-star Lamar (Texas) DT Bobby Brown has flipped from Alabama to the Aggies. Brown is No. 17 tackle in the country, according to the 247Sports Composite.

8:45 a.m. ET: Goodrich picks Clemson, Texas secures Coburn

• Clemson nabs Lee's Summitt West (Mo.) athlete Mario Goodrich, a four-star receiver-DB-return man who could be asked to replace some of the explosiveness lost when Deon Cain and Ray-Ray McCloud left for the NFL draft. LSU and Georgia were also in on Goodrich.

• Four-star defensive tackle Keondre Coburn, the No. 13 recruit in the state of Texas, had committed to the Longhorns last year but didn’t shut things down during the early signing period. Now Tom Herman and company can rest easy, as the Cypress Ranch product has sent in his National Letter of Intent.

8 a.m. ET: Here Come the Irish

• Notre Dame secured the commitment of defensive back D.J. Brown, a three-star out of D.C. who had been committed to Virginia. As of right now, Brian Kelly’s 2018 haul (the largest in Notre Dame history) sits near the bottom of the national top 10—if the Irish are somehow able to snag highly-touted tackle Nicholas Petit-Frere later this morning, they could start climbing.

7:15 a.m. ET: Off and running

• Buford (Ga.) High three-star running back Anthony Grant has flipped from Tennessee to Florida State, an early-morning win for few coach Willie Taggart in his effort to salvage a Seminoles class that lost a lot of bodies when Jimbo Fisher took his time heading out the door. Grant had committed to the Volunteers last June but kept his options open in December. Virginia Tech was the last team in his revisited final three.

• Notre Dame lands three-star RB C'Bo Flemister, another Georgia back (Pike County) notable in that he was honored on our 2018 National Signing Day All-Name Team. Flemister had been committed to Georgia Tech prior to Wednesday.

• Interesting story from ESPN’s Tom VanHaaren: Utah was actually able to get a head-start on signing day by making things official with tight end Thomas Yassmin at 4:54 p.m. ET on Tuesday. Yassmin faxed his NLI in to Salt Lake City from Sydney, where it was already Wednesday morning.

Who's Still Available?

Need to set some alarms for the day’s biggest decisions? These are the top 11 uncommitted recruits remaining (all with a 247 Composite rating of over .9700) and when they’re scheduled to commit (all times Eastern):

What's Going to Happen?

A lot less than normally transpires on the first Wednesday of February. With more than 70% of the class of 2018 already locked up, the past six weeks have been a little lighter on the craziness typically associated with peak recruiting season, as all sides can take stock of their options a little more deliberately. While most contenders’ classes are nearly complete, the final one or two additions could provide an extra boost of program momentum heading into spring practice (and the early stages of the 2019 recruiting cycle)—or at least swing the national class rankings for a feather in the school’s cap.

Georgia was dubbed the big winner of the early signing period, but January’s recalculation of top prospects’ star ratings helped Ohio State regain a slight edge heading into signing day. There’s a slight gap to the next group of teams in the rankings, making it unlikely that someone other than the Bulldogs or Buckeyes will hold bragging rights by the end of the day.

TV Guide to National Signing Day 2018

ESPN’s live coverage begins on ESPNU at 10 a.m. ET and moves over at noon to ESPN2, where it will run until 3 p.m. The SEC Network, Pac-12 Networks and Longhorn Network will all hold wrap-up coverage later in the afternoon.

You May Like

More College Football

Sign Up for our Newsletter

Don't get stuck on the sidelines! Sign up to get exclusives, daily highlights, analysis and more—delivered right to your inbox!